25MAY

6,530 dead by day 25 — Hengaw report

1 min read

13:55UTC

Hengaw's count reached 6,530 killed through Day 25. The eighth report, covering the last week, is overdue.

← Back to Two markets, two prices on one Iran deal Jump to analysis ↓

ConflictDeveloping

Key takeaway

Both sides' casualty tolls are climbing with no ceasefire in sight.

Hengaw's seventh report confirmed 6,530 killed through Day 25 (24 March), including 640 civilians, 130 children, and 173 women across 186 cities in 26 provinces. ¹ An eighth report covering days 25 to 31 is overdue. Israel recorded 6,131 total hospitalisations since 28 February, with 118 currently hospitalised. Four Israeli soldiers were killed in a south Lebanon clash with Hezbollah on 31 March. ²

The civilian toll in Iran already exceeds total coalition fatalities in the 2003 Iraq invasion. The gap between Hengaw's figures and the Iranian government's official count of 1,937 remains wide and unexplained.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

Hengaw is a Kurdish human rights organisation that has been tracking casualties inside Iran since the war began. Their seventh report, covering the first 25 days of the war, documented 6,530 people killed, including 640 civilians, 130 children, and 173 women. To put that in context: total coalition military fatalities in the entire 2003 Iraq invasion were around 172. Iran has lost more civilians in 25 days than the US-led coalition lost in total during the fall of Baghdad. An eighth report covering the week since then is overdue. At the documented rate of roughly 20 civilian deaths per day, the current civilian death toll in Iran likely exceeds 800 by now. On the Israeli side, 6,131 people have been hospitalised since the war began, with four soldiers killed in a clash with Hezbollah in Lebanon on 31 March.

Sources:Times of Israel·Hengaw Organisation for Human Rights·Hengaw Organisation for Human Rights

Mentions:Lebanon →Hengaw →Hezbollah →

First Reported In

Update #53 · Trump drops Hormuz goal; toll becomes law

Times of Israel· 31 Mar 2026

Read original →

Causes and effects

Caused by

Hengaw: 6,900 dead in first month

Hengaw's seventh report updates the 6,530 toll that underpins the humanitarian casualty tracking established through earlier Hengaw reports.

Occurred 28 Mar 2026

Read story →

This Event

6,530 dead by day 25 — Hengaw report

Iranian civilian casualties already exceed total coalition fatalities in the 2003 Iraq invasion, with a week of data still unreported.

Led to

Day 29: 6,900 dead; official toll frozen

Hengaw's 8th report (6,900 dead) builds directly on the 7th report (ID:1757, 6,530 dead), showing the toll continues to rise.

Occurred 28 Mar 2026

Read story →

Different Perspectives

Global shipping and insurance markets

Lloyd's Joint Hull Committee held Hormuz war-risk at $10-14 million per voyage on 26 May, requiring a signed government instrument or UNSC resolution before acting. Futures traders repriced Brent 1.63% on the Bandar Abbas strike; insurers did not move because no qualifying document has been produced in 87 days.

Pakistan

Pakistan's army-chief channel relayed the draft MOU to Tehran and backs Iran's framing that the ball is in Washington's court. Islamabad's general-officer corps now holds structural authority over the deal's critical text, having extracted the only substantive nuclear-monitoring concession of the war; legitimising this channel is itself a strategic choice Washington has not publicly affirmed.

China

Chinese DPI hardware arrived in Iran for a tiered censorship system, while China's NFRA ordered state banks to halt new lending to five sanctioned refiners after GL V expired. Beijing is simultaneously exporting surveillance infrastructure to Tehran and adjusting sanctions exposure to US pressure.

Saudi Arabia

Riyadh signed the IMO letter rejecting Iran's Hormuz toll system and requested Trump stand down the 19 May strike alongside the Qatari Emir and UAE President. Saudi Aramco has already warned that Hormuz normalcy is delayed to 2027; at $87 per barrel as Riyadh's budget breakeven, every month of war-risk insurance premium erodes the fiscal cushion the crown prince requires.

Qatar

Doha hosted Iranian negotiators, holds $12 billion in frozen Iranian assets Tehran has named as a Hormuz precondition, and signed the five-Gulf-state IMO letter rejecting Iran's PGSA transit route on the same week. Qatar cannot release the assets without a Washington order and cannot credibly claim neutrality after the IMO signature; it is covering both outcomes rather than bridging them.

Israel

Prime Minister Netanyahu called Trump on 24 May to object that the Lebanon war-end clause inside the draft MOU would force Israel to wind down its campaign against Hezbollah. His objection gives Jerusalem an effective veto over text Washington and Tehran had otherwise largely settled, without Israel being a party to the deal.